>Were they? And is that the justification the US has cited? If not, you're writing fan fiction and that's not really interesting.

This is all necessarily speculative, we might never have sufficient visibility to know all the facts.

I'm merely attempting to provide the strongest reply the administration could provide if they cared to try. I believe it's reasonably grounded in facts.

1. US government openly does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate head of state of Venezuela

2. US government does recognize Edmundo González Urrutia as the president-elect.

3. Venezuelan opposition has been heavily lobbying in an effort to get foreign governments to intervene in Venezuela

All of these things are verifiable facts, I think they can be distilled into my perfectly reasonable suggestion as to how the US could fend off such criticism.